A SENIOR VicRoads executive has committed the organisation to being more responsive to issues like dangerous potholes and eroded shoulders, as criticism grows over the state of rural Victorian roads.
VicRoads deputy chief executive, Peter Todd visited Kerang as part of the corporation’s roadshow of country Victoria to talk about how it can better maintain the State’s 19,000 kilometres of country arterial roads.
Local government, industry and community representatives shared their views on the roads network with VicRoads representatives.
“We make a lot of assumptions about what’s important to the road network, but we want to hear from local communities and stakeholders representing those communities about what’s important to them,” Mr Todd said.
“That might be about maintaining the roads, road safety, the movement of freight, or facilitating tourism.”
Speaking after the forum, Mr Todd said particular concerns had been raised about the condition of the road network and issues around safety, particularly following the damaged caused to roads by last year’s floods.
Feedback is being gathered at public forums and submissions about general and specific concerns can be made online.
“We’re collecting this information across Victoria and looking at what the priorities are and I expect there will be a number of issues we can address immediately,” Mr Todd said.
“We will also use this information to talk to government about priorities for rural Victoria and about where investment is needed into the future.”
Mr Todd said local residents would start to see the impact of a major increase to road maintenance funding from the State Government.
“We will also use this information to talk to government about priorities for rural Victoria and about where investment is needed into the future.”
Mr Todd said local residents would start to see the impact of a major increase to road maintenance funding from the State Government.
This year’s State Budget includes $343.2 million for roads maintenance, which the Minister for Roads, Luke Donnellan has stated is double that of previous years.
“Funding is always a challenge for us but the government has increased our maintenance funding significantly this year, and they are, through TAC [Transport Accident Commission], investing in significant safety infrastructure,” Mr Todd said.
Mr Todd acknowledged that erecting warning signs rather than immediately repairing damage to roads was something that made road users angry.
“We understand that people are frustrated by that so we know we need to communicate better with people and rather than just doing temporary things we want to be making permanent repairs and this funding will help us to start doing that,” he said.
Mr Todd urged people to go to engage.vicroads.vic.gov.au/countryroads to have their say on the roads network.
Local resident have already used the interactive map to raise issues about poor road surfaces, deep potholes and overgrown or eroded shoulders, particularly along the Loddon Valley and Murray Valley highways.
